No member will disgrace the club by being a pussy.
“Where the fuck is she?”
T-Rex and Wheels paled under Jagger’s relentless verbal abuse. “Two prospects and a full-patch brother should have been able to keep one woman in sight. How the fuck did she get out?”
“There’s a hidden exit through the storage room,” Wheels said, his voice wavering. “Leads to a secluded area of the parking lot. I was doing circuits of the building and musta been around the front when she came out. There’s no way anyone could have known there was an exit back there, and we’d already checked that the windows in the restrooms were secure.”
“There is a way we could have known about the secret exit.” He grabbed Wheels by the collar and shoved him against the brick wall where only an hour earlier he’d held Arianne. “You could have fucking asked.”
“I did ask.” T-Rex put a firm hand on Jagger’s wrist. “The owner assured me there was no way out from the bathroom corridor. I’ve dealt with him.”
Slightly mollified, Jagger released the trembling Wheels. “Go pull the security tapes. We have to find out who has her. Zane lost Viper on the road, so it might be the Jacks caught her outside. Or it might be her brother came after all, and they’re gone.”
After they had departed, Jagger slumped against the wall. He doubted Viper had snatched her. What would be the point? He hadn’t been able to keep her before, and nothing had changed. And if he wanted her dead, she would be lying in the parking lot. It had to be Jeff. So why was he wasting time and energy looking for a woman who didn’t want to stay? And wasn’t this the best result? She would find the happiness she wanted¸ safe from Viper and from him.
Cade clapped a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll find her.”
“What if she doesn’t want to be found?” He pushed himself to stand. “She came here to meet her brother and leave with him. I made it easy for her to do just that. My guess is they’re long gone.”
Probably the best result for him, too. If tonight was any evidence, he had lost his objectivity, and his emotional involvement had almost compromised the club. The old ways were the best ways. No attachments. No strings.
No Arianne.
* * *
“I have died and gone to heaven.”
Arianne stilled when a knife slid across her throat. She knew the voice coming from the backseat. Remembered the cool feel of a blade on her skin. She glanced up in the rear view mirror, and her mouth went dry.
“Axle.” She lowered the .22, still in her grasp, down by her side, praying Axle wouldn’t notice.
“The one and only. Still alive and kicking after Jagger and his boys got a blowtorch and burned my Sinner’s Tribe tat off my shoulder blade. Lucky for me, I didn’t get the full version across my back, or I would have died in that fucking clubhouse basement.”
“You know my sister?” Jeff met Axle’s gaze in the rear view mirror.
“Your sister?” Axle spat. “She’s your fucking sister? So who are you? Bunny never gives out personal details. So spill. Are you Viper’s boy?”
“Yeah. The weapons are for him.”
“Well, damn.” Axle barked his delight. “Things were looking pretty bad for me for a while there, but fortune has smiled on me at last. Price just went up, J-Boy ’cause the weapons I have to sell are the weapons Viper tried to steal from the Sinners. I got them this evening with the help of a sexy redhead.”
“Sherry?” The name dropped from Arianne’s lips before she could catch it.
“So clever.” Axle pressed the knife against Arianne’s throat. “Yeah, Sherry got me into the storage shed behind the safe house where she’s stayin’. Jagger kicked her outta the club, but he let her stay at the safe house because someone roughed her up real bad, and Jagger just can’t deal with seeing a woman in pain. I had to hit her quite a few times to make it look authentic enough for him to want to help her, but I never expected he’d put her in the safe house, right near the shed. Never thought it would be so easy for her to get the code. But a man will pretty much give up anything for good head, and Sherry’s the best.”
Her lip curled. “You’re disgusting.”
“And you’re gonna suffer so much worse than she did when she first told me she wouldn’t do it.”
Jeff’s hands convulsed on the steering wheel, and the car veered to the side of the road. “That wasn’t our deal. She’s not part of this except to get the extra cash.”
“Consider her a surcharge.” Axle laughed. “I gotta say, I was worried about how to make a living after I got kicked outta the Sinners, but getting into bed with Bunny, using my connections to get shit he needs, has more than made up for my loss.”
Arianne fingered the trigger on her gun, weighing her chances of avoiding the blade if she could shoot Axle across her opposite shoulder. “How much more does he owe?”
“Eighty grand. And hand the gun over to Jeff, love. Nice and slow. I know you got it, and I don’t got any problem cutting you tonight, because every day you’ve been alive since we found you at the clubhouse has been borrowed time.”
Muttering a curse, she held the gun out for Jeff, who took it with his right hand, and lowered it carefully to the floor beneath his legs.
“Nice piece,” Axle said. “I always carry a .45. Much more effective. But maybe I’ll add your toy to my collection.”
“Fuck off.”
“Don’t antagonize him,” Jeff whined. “We just need to get the money and—”
“Eighty grand?” She cut Jeff off and glared. “Why the hell did you tell him I would give him the money? I don’t have eighty grand. I spent everything on those passports.”
“You must have some cash, Ari.” He scraped a hand through his hair. “I’ll drive you to the bank and you can check.”
The car veered to the right, and Arianne sucked in a breath. “Are you okay to drive?”
“No. I’m not okay.” Jeff wrenched the steering wheel in the opposite direction. “I’m outta meth, and there’s a shortage since the ice house blew up. Axle wants his money. Viper wants his guns. You want to fucking run away to Canada. I can’t take anymore. I can’t take the pressure. I need one thing to go right.” His voice rose and his hands jerked on the steering wheel. Oh God. He was tweaking. She had to get him out of the car or he’d kill someone.
“My bank is five blocks to the east,” she said. “I might have some cash in my savings account.”
“Lucky for you.” Axle eased the pressure against her throat.
Arianne scowled at him in the rear view mirror. “Lucky is winning the lottery, falling in love, or being the only person to survive an airplane crash. Lucky is not riding around in a decrepit vehicle with a tweaking brother while some low-life scumbag holds a knife against my throat and threatens to steal my money.”
“You forgot the part where I’m going to kill Jeff if I don’t get my money tonight,” Axle said. “And then there’s the fun you and I are going to have after the deal is done.”
Fear and anger curled through her belly. This wasn’t happening. After all they’d been through together, Jeff wasn’t betraying her when they were so close to the life they had dreamed about since the day they huddled on the roof all night, praying for the sun to come up.
Jeff pulled up outside the bank, and Axle switched out his knife for a .45, concealing it under his jacket as he marched Arianne over to the bank machine with Jeff trailing after. Her mind raced as she put her card in the slot. She knew the balance would show as zero. She had emptied her account the night she thought they were running away.
But what to do? No damn way was she getting back in that car. As she punched in her numbers, she glanced up at the security camera and mouthed the word “help.” Then she cast a glance down the street, but at this late hour the sidewalk was deserted and the few cars on the road drove past without slowing down.
The machine flashed the zero balance, and Axle smashed his hand into the wall, then motioned them both into the alley with a jerk of his gun.
“Fucking hell,” he spluttered as he marched them into the semi-darkness. “You said she had the cash.”
“I thought she did.” Shaking uncontrollably, Jeff turned to face Axle when they were mid-way down the alley. “Maybe she can get it from someone else. She could give you her bike. Maybe—”
“Shut the fuck up. I’m trying to think.” Axle’s gaze raked over Arianne, making her skin crawl.
“Fucking bitches are good for only one thing.”
“While we’re thinking, let’s go see Bunny.” Jeff paced up and down the alley, rubbing his hands over his thighs. “He’ll have some meth. He can give me a hit, and I’ll be able to think clearer.”
Axle rolled his eyes. “You can’t pay me. How the heck are you going to pay Bunny? You got nothing ’cept a beat-up car and a fucking hot sister.”
Hot sister? She could see where the conversation was headed, and if she didn’t run now, she might not get another chance. Taking advantage of their distraction, Arianne bolted, pounding her way down the alley, cursing the shoes that were slowing her down.
“Fuck. Get her.”
Arianne kicked off the shoes and ran barefoot, her cry for help echoing in the confined space. But although she was fast, the stilettos had slowed her down.
Jeff caught up with her just a few feet away from the sidewalk and yanked her back into the alley with an arm around her waist. “Stop. Please. We won’t hurt you.”
But she didn’t trust him. This wasn’t Jeff. Not the sweet boy she’d pushed on the swings and protected from Viper’s wrath. Not the boy who had almost died trying to save her from Leo. He was a stranger. An addict. And although she had desperately wanted to save him, she realized now it was far too late.
Kicking and screaming, she writhed in his grasp until he flung her against the wall. Her forehead cracked against the brick, and she stilled, stunned.
“Don’t fight me, Ari.” Hearing his pet name for her on his lips sickened her. If he was doing this, knowing who she was, then he wasn’t tweaking at all.
Turning, she kicked him in the stomach. Jeff doubled over with a groan, but recovered quickly and shot up and punched her, his fist grazing her cheek and over her eye. Gravel crunched behind them.
“Christ. She’s a fucking girl. How hard can it be to take her down?”
But before she could turn to face the new threat, something slammed into her head.
And then there was darkness.
* * *
“You’ve watched it five times, Jag. You’re not going to see anything you didn’t see already.”
Jagger scrubbed a hand over his face as Zane took a seat beside him in the clubhouse meeting room and peered at the image frozen on the laptop—the image he couldn’t get out of his mind. The long moment when Arianne stared at the back door to Peelers, pain and longing etched on her beautiful face.
Pain he had put there. And the longing—could he even hope it was for him?
He assumed the blond-haired driver was her brother, Jeff. From what he could see on the tape, she knew him well enough to hug him when she’d joined him in the parking lot, and he resembled the man he’d seen in the vacant lot, although even thinner and looking more strung out.
“Did you ask Sheriff Morton to run the plate?” Having the sheriff at their beck and call was more than worth the monthly expense.
Zane stretched his long legs under the table. “Stolen. The police have it in their system, but no patrols have spotted the vehicle yet. He wanted to know if we could do a protection run for him tomorrow. Coupla boxes of handguns heading south.”
“Get Gunner on it. And T-Rex, so he can get some experience.” He stared at the screen. “What about the owner of Peelers? Anyone talked to him after T-Rex took him out back?” He checked his cell out of reflex, but of course, he’d taken Arianne’s phone, so she couldn’t call him.
“He remembered Arianne but didn’t see her leave. He didn’t know anyone matching the descriptions I gave him from the surveillance footage.”
Jagger tilted his neck from side to side, trying to alleviate the tension that strained his body. If she had left, he would deal with it. If she’d been taken, he’d find her. But not knowing was killing him as much as sitting still. He shoved his chair away from the table and slammed the laptop closed. “I’m going out again. Tank can come with me, and—”
“Why don’t you just let her go?”
Jagger whipped his head around. “What if she was coerced into that vehicle? I gave my word I’d keep her safe.”
“You saw the tape, same as me.” Zane said. “She ran out the door and hugged him. There was no coercion going on. Odds are that was her brother and he was scared to come inside. She’s gone, Jag. Although I didn’t completely trust her, she was always up-front about what she wanted. And what she wanted was out. I know you cared about her. Fucking blew my mind after all the years you said you didn’t want to get involved, but it’s best for her and it’s best for you. So just let her go. If she feels the same way about you, she’ll come back.”
“Like you did?”
Zane had the good grace to grimace at Jagger’s reference to a time in their lives they never discussed. Zane had disappeared when Jagger needed him most, and although they had mended their friendship, the hurt remained.
“You never told me where you were all those years I was in the army, or where you went that day after you came to see me in the hospital.” Jagger rubbed at the back of his neck, trying not to let his disappointment show. “You asked me to let you go, and you never came back.”
“I’m here now.”
“I needed you then.”
“You wanted me to help you die,” Zane said. “And God help me, I would have because I couldn’t watch you suffer like that. We all thought it was only a matter of time. That’s why I asked you to let me go. I knew if I did what you wanted, I would regret it for the rest of my life. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, but it was the best decision I ever made.”
He pushed himself to standing, his voice thick with emotion. “I kept tabs on you, brother, and I came back as soon as you had yourself sorted out. I came when I knew you wanted to live again. I came back ’cause you’re like a fucking blood brother to me.”
“Then help me find her,” Jagger pleaded. “The Arianne I know wouldn’t leave without saying good-bye.”
* * *
Arianne awoke with a headache.
No, not just a headache. Her skull was splitting—the pain so intense, she could barely think. She took in the dark, cold room, her body lying haphazardly on the concrete floor, one eye swollen shut, and was that a chain?.
Startled, she tried to move, and the chain rattled, jerking her leg as she pulled away. Her arms, tied behind her back, encountered similar resistance, and she opened her mouth to scream, then closed it again. Why let her captors know she was awake? Whoever they were.
“Don’t waste your breath. They won’t hear you. And even if they do, they won’t care.”
She craned her neck in the direction of the voice—a female voice. Light filtered through the bottom of the door, and in the darkness she could make out two distinct shapes. Both women. Both tied and chained as she was.
“Where are we?” Arianne’s voice was no more than a croak but they understood her.
“Basement of Bunny’s pool hall.” The woman—no, girl—who answered was small and slight, no older than eighteen, her long blond hair matted and stuck to her cheek. She wore a light-colored dress, soiled and torn, and a pair of four-inch heels.
Memories flooded back. Axle. The alley. And Jeff. Pain sliced through her heart at his betrayal. She was here because of Jeff.
“Did they process you yet?” The second girl was all harsh planes and angles, her sparkly silver dress torn away from her chest to reveal the crescents of her breasts. She looked to be about the same age as her friend, but her voice was that of a much older woman.
“I was in an alley. Then I was here. I don’t know why.”
“She doesn’t know why.” The girl in the silver dress gave a bitter laugh, and her companion admonished her with a nudge.
“Ease up on her, Sheila. She just woke up.”
Arianne pushed herself with her feet until she was sitting, facing the women. “Why?”
Sheila shrugged. “Bunny.”
“What about him?”
“This is what he does.” Sheila stared at Arianne, but when Arianne gave her a blank look, her face softened. “You never walked the streets? You never heard of Bunny?”
“I met him. I thought he sold things.”
“He sells people. Women, mostly. He runs the biggest human trafficking ring in Montana.”
Her blood chilled. “In Montana? Seriously? Does that kind of thing really go on here?”
The girl with the heels leaned forward. “You don’t look like his usual type. Usually he grabs girls off the streets, around our age or younger. Homeless kids … hookers. People who don’t have anyone to ask after them. Usually the pimps pay him to leave us alone, but our man, Walker, took a bad hit and wound up in a ditch. He wasn’t dead more than an hour before Bunny sent his people to find us.”
“Sometimes, though, he has special orders. You must be one of them.” Sheila sucked in her lips. “Worse for you. Buyer will expect more. Mostly we’ve heard the girls are sold to brothels around the country. Some shipped overseas.”
Her friend let out a sob and dropped her head to Sheila’s shoulder.
A sickening wave of terror welled up in Arianne’s throat. For all the abuse she had suffered at Viper’s hands, under no circumstances would he have done anything like this. She was his, and he never let her forget it.
The door slammed open, flooding the room with light. She craned her neck over her shoulder, freezing when she saw three men silhouetted in the doorway. She recognized Jeff at once. And Bunny from his girth. The third man had to be Axle. She shuffled around to face them and straightened her back. No way would she let them see her fear.
“So what did you bring me that’s worth eighty grand and a kilo of meth?” Bunny flicked on the light and leaned against the doorjamb. Axle entered the room, grabbed Arianne by the shoulder and pulled her to her knees.
“This. Jeff’s tied her up and chained her. She’s a bit of a hellcat.”
“Don’t touch me.” Rage, fierce and unexpected, shot through her veins. She tried to shake him off, heedless of his hand swinging—until pain exploded across her cheek.
“Shut the fuck up.”
“Don’t damage her anymore.” Bunny joined Axle and then crouched down in front of Arianne. “I can’t sell her if she’s marked up too bad, and you’ve already lowered her price by giving her all those bruises.”
Although her cheek throbbed and her vision was hazy, she met his gaze, staring into his cold, black eyes. “You can’t seriously think Viper will let you get away with this.”
Bunny tilted his head to the side. “Viper? I’m not afraid of Viper. But why would he care about a piece of trash like you?” He twisted his hand through her hair and yanked her head back.
She drew in a shuddering breath. Bunny didn’t recognize her. And how could he, with her face swollen and bruised? And if neither Jeff nor Axle hadn’t told him who she was …
“You don’t recognize me, Bunny? After I whipped your boy’s ass at pool? And I thought we had a deal. I won. Jeff’s debt was wiped out. Although now I’m thinking you should break his legs like you said you were going to do, because he’s no brother of mine.”
Bunny stiffened and shoved her back. “Jesus Christ. You’re Jagger’s girl.” He pushed himself to his feet and glared at Jeff, his face a mask of fury. “You brought me Jagger’s girl? Your fucking sister? I knew you weren’t right in the head, but that’s fucking twisted. You’re selling your sister for eighty grand and a kilo of meth?”
“You want her or not?” Jeff said, his tone flat. And just like that, she knew she was alone. His voice was devoid of everything that had made him her little brother: compassion, emotion, warmth … love.
Bunny grabbed Jeff’s shirt and shoved him against the wall. “She’s Jagger’s girl. You got that?”
“What the fuck are you talking about? “Jeff shouted. “Jagger claimed her as a blood price for the shit that went down at his clubhouse. He’s gonna kill her, not fuck her. I’m saving her life, bringing her to you.”
“That’s not what I saw.” Bunny thudded him against the wall again. “She came here for you and he came looking for her. Brought his boys with him. But did he drag her outta here? No fucking way. He was all over her. And I mean all over. I thought they were gonna go at it right on my damn pool table. I got it all on tape. When I say she’s his girl, I don’t mean she was gonna blow him for the night, or she was being forced into it. I mean. She. Is. His. Girl.”
Jeff’s eyes narrowed and he glared at Arianne. “No fucking way.”
“Yes fucking way.” Bunny grabbed the neck of his T-shirt and tugged it down. “And just so I got the message, Jagger had his boys beat the fucking crap outta me and my crew. Two of them are still in the hospital. They broke a couple of my ribs and they did this.”
Arianne couldn’t see what he showed Jeff on his neck, but she could guess.
“I thought I’d fucking bleed out on the street,” Bunny spat, his voice thick with venom. “If Peter hadn’t found me and called an ambulance, I woulda died in the alley. Gonna have a scar across my neck for the rest of my life. And all so I wouldn’t forget she was his girl.”
Jeff’s lips curled in disgust. “You sold out, Ari? You’re sleeping with the fucking enemy? You betrayed our club? Our family?”
Blood roared through her ears drowing out every sound except the thunder of her own rage. “Seriously? How can you accuse me of betraying our family when you’re trying to sell me to pay a debt to Axle and buy yourself drugs? You don’t understand what family means.”
“You don’t understand.” Jeff’s voice rose to a shout and he shoved Bunny to the side. “You never did. Little Miss Perfect. Viper’s fucking pet.”
Pet? He was delusional.
“You two shut the fuck up.” Bunny’s mouth thinned in a stubborn line. “I’m not interested in getting involved in a family feud. I’m also not interested in anything to do with Jagger’s girl. I want her outta here. Now.”
A spasm of irritation crossed Axle’s face. “Christ. It’s not like he’s ever going to find out. And I want this, too. I want her gone. I want her to suffer. I want her to pay for getting me kicked out of the club. This is the perfect solution.”
“Yeah, if I’m tired of living.” Sarcasm laced Bunny’s tone.
Jeff gave a disdainful sniff. “If you aren’t afraid of Viper, why the fuck are you afraid of Jagger?”
“If you gotta ask that question, then you don’t know nothin’ about business,” Bunny said. “I got such powerful backers, I’m not afraid of any local MC. I coulda had them wipe out Jagger’s MC in one night as payback for what he did. But I’m not stupid. Lotta bikers in Montana who look up to Jagger and they give me good business. I don’t want to damage my reputation. He made it clear that this is his woman. I respect that. And no way will I touch her.”
Arianne swallowed past the lump in her throat. She’d seen how Jagger reacted when she’d told him she was leaving, felt his anger. And she’d seen his rage when Axle threatened her, watched him let that anger loose. Bunny knew as well as she did that if anything happened to her, he would pay with his life. Which gave her no small amount of power, and she knew exactly how she was going to use it.
“He almost had me killed as a warning.” Bunny continued to rant. “What do you think he would do if he found out I had his girl down here? It won’t just be bad for business, it’ll be bad for my health. He’ll go after my boy, my family … Hell, if he finds out you were the one who made her face look like that, your life won’t be worth living. Now, get her—”
“They walk out of here with me.” Arianne cut him off and pointed to the women behind her. “I’m not leaving here without them.”
“Sorry, love. They’ve been contracted already.” Bunny turned away.
“I’ll give your regards to Jagger when I see him again, shall I?” Arianne bit her lip. Might as well play the old lady card while it was still fresh. “He’ll be happy to hear about your hospitality.”
Bunny whipped around to face her. “I didn’t touch you. I didn’t know you were here until I walked into the room. And when I found out it was you, I told them to let you go. You tell him that. You tell him Bunny did the right thing. I helped you out. I saved you.”
Arianne met his gaze. “We live in the same world, Bunny. I think we understand each other. What I tell Jagger depends on what happens to the two women behind me. And I’m thinking the value of Jagger’s gratitude would far outweigh any money you’ll get from selling them. Unless, of course, you’re wanting to make your pretend necklace real.”
His lips curled in a snarl. “Fucking hell. No wonder Jagger wants you. You’re just like Viper. Beaten, tied up, chained to my wall, and you’re negotiating with me like you’ve got a gun to my head.”
“I’m nothing like Viper.”
Bunny laughed, showing a mouth full of chipped, broken teeth. “That’s were you’re wrong. You’re your daddy’s girl to the bone.”
* * *
“Fucking useless piece of shit.” Axle shoved Jeff aside as they headed across Bunny’s parking lot toward Jeff’s vehicle.
Arianne winced when the .45 pressed into her back. She’d assumed Bunny would make sure she got out safely, but he disappeared after Jeff unchained her, and she’d found herself once again at the wrong end of Axle’s gun.
“I should just shoot you now and put you out of your misery.” He glared at Jeff.
“I’ll get the money,” Jeff said quickly. “Just … how about you give me the guns to give to Viper, and I’ll pay you the rest as soon as I have it?”
“Not the way I do business.” Axle leaned against Jeff’s vehicle, his gun pointed at Arianne’s chest, while Jeff fumbled with his keys. Across the street, Sheila and her friend tried to flag down a cab.
“What about Arianne?”
“I’m gonna have some fun with her.” Axle poked her again, and her lips pursed with suppressed fury.
“Nothing will piss off Jagger more than knowing someone else fucked his girl. And I’m not gonna just fuck her. I’m gonna use her and break her. And then I’ll drop her off at the clubhouse like the Wolverines MC did to his last girl. That will be a message he’ll never forget.”
A cab crawled to a stop across the street. Sheila bent down to talk to the driver. Arianne looked at Axle’s .45, her heart drumming in her chest. After Leo’s attack, she’d spent years in therapy, and as part of the recovery program, she had been required to take self-defense classes. Given the world she lived in, she hadn’t gone for the regular classes that taught basic twist-and-run techniques. She’d taken the courses about disarming attackers wielding knives, handguns, steel pipes, and brass knuckles. Although she’d never really had the chance to put some of the more extreme moves to the test, given that the alternative was getting into the car with Jeff and Axle, she deemed the risk worthwhile.
While Axle was distracted, talking to Jeff, she took a step toward him and grabbed his gun hand at the wrist. Before he could react, she clasped the barrel of the gun and pushed it toward him, rolling it against his thumb until it pointed at him. Another roll and he involuntarily released the gun into her hand. Although it took only moments, the delay seemed like a lifetime, but once she had the gun, she didn’t waste a second. Sprinting across the street, she shouted for Sheila to open the cab door.
Her heart pounded against her ribs as she ran toward the vehicle. Sheila flung open the door and stretched out an arm toward her. Arianne’s bare feet thudded across the pavement. She was close. So close, she could see the chips in Sheila’s red nail polish, the gold ring on her finger with a brilliant blue stone.
And then pain exploded across her arm, and she fell forward, the blue stone fading to black.